Eurocup in Eilat
Not long after the London Grand Prix I was heading for the Eurocup this time held in Eilat in Israel. This made for a grueling and expensive journey which may explain why the number of teams...
View ArticleBunratty Masters Champion!
To bring things up to date, and because for a change I won a chess tournament, I am writing about my most recent event and will wrap up the LCC, Baden-Baden, and Gibraltar soon. I garnered a lot of...
View ArticleLondon Classic Revisited
After my debacle last year, I approached the London Chess Classic with a certain amount of trepidation, but after a good start winning a couple of decent games against Gawain Jones and Judit Polgar...
View ArticleFrom Gibraltar to Baden-Baden
Battle on the Rock I would have been pretty happy with 7.5/10 before the event, but it shows how hard it is to win open events these days that 4 players managed to amass 8 points. One of the special...
View ArticleBaden Sweep!
Baden-Baden completed a perfect 15 wins in the very competitive Bundesliga. I have always enjoyed playing in this testing competition, and this season scored a solid 6/9. As far as I can see the only...
View ArticleParis – St. Petersburg Rally
It was a pleasure to participate in The Alekhine Memorial. An unexpected treat at the the Paris opening which was held in the Louvre in fine style was a private guided tour of a few of the highlights...
View Article4NCL Finale
We got home from St Petersburg after 9pm on Thursday evening just in time to vote in the council elections.By Saturday morning we were on the road to Hinckley for the final 4NCL weekend, in fact it was...
View ArticleChess and Squirrels
My study has been groaning under the ever increasing weight of chess books for some time and in an effort to free up some space on my bookshelves I asked Malclom Pein if the Chess in Schools Charity...
View ArticleSing-a-Long at Hay
It’s not often that you get to experience chess set to music. Mickey and I made a visit to the Hay Festival on the final weekend. For me it was a happy chance to wander about, taking in a bit here and...
View ArticleDortmund Win!
I was happy to be invited to play at the Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting again after a few years break; I had played there quite regularly since my debut as long ago as 1992. After checking out my...
View ArticleFrom the Arctic Circle
The World Cup was held in a small hotel near Tromso airport: given the eye watering prices in Norway it was suggested to me by a FIDE official that the room rates would have been excessive in the...
View ArticleSimul at Bickleigh on Exe Primary School
I visited Bickleigh on Exe Primary School last week for an informal chat with the pupils of the chess club and to give a simul. A very eager and well behaved group of children, and I hope this will...
View ArticleBilbao Bonus
I enjoyed my first visit to Bilbao, a beautiful city with excellent views and great food. We took the opportunity to check out the Guggenheim Museum before catching our flight home. The tournament was...
View ArticleEuropean Team
The European Team Championship competition was held in a pleasant hotel in the centre of Warsaw, the organisers made a good job of airport transfers, providing reliable internet access and decent meals...
View ArticleHoogoveen
Until Bilbao I don’t think I had played a 4 player double round event in my life, but less than a week later I was starting a second.The traditional Univé tournament in Hoogoveen was very welcoming, a...
View ArticleCastling Calamity at Classic
The London Classic began with some exhibition games: the Pro Am event in the morning was won by Matthew Sadler and Daniel Lindner from Barclays. As it coincided with the very welcome BarcIaycard...
View ArticleCave Dining
Gibraltar is always noteable for the special events put together during the tournament, a spectacular highlight this year was the visit to St. Michael’s Cave after the first round, I had visited the...
View ArticleHitching a Ride
I made my Bundesliga debut this season in the March weekend. My teammates had been doing excellent work in my absence and we have a perfect record heading into the final weekend. On Sunday morning I...
View ArticleTelford Simul and Lecture
Francis Best and Michael Bukojemski did a fine job, creating a chess filled day beginning with a blitz tournament before I began my lecture. The original proposal was that I would show my games with...
View ArticleDortmund
I hadn’t played for a while before the event, but had done some prep at home and played a few successful training games. The tournament wasn’t a disaster but was rather frustrating, as it seemed a long...
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